Chapter 8

Part 1

Rebekah POV

For the past month or so, Johnny and Xela have tried their hardest to get me and Will to hook up. Now that the two of us are actually together, we thought it’d only be fair to return the favour by setting the two of them up. Will and I agreed to keep our relationship a secret from Johnny and Xela so they can continue with their cute attempts of trying to get Will and I together. Currently, we’re discussing ideas in small, little cafe not too far away from school called Filip’s Cafe.

“This is place is really… cozy,” I said, looking around. “How’d you find it?”

“Uh… long story,” Will responded with a suspicious smile.

“Let me guess, you bring all your other 10 girlfriends here too.”

“Already with the cheating suspicions after only a week of dating? Boy, this is going to be one long relationship.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I said with a pouty face.

“I’m only kidding,” he said while giving me a light pat on the head. “Besides, I’d never cheat on such a stunning beauty such as yourself.”

“Weren’t you also the one who admitted Xela was more attractive than me at the movies???”

“You gave me a serious question, I gave you an honest answer. If my memory serves me correct, you also admitted Johnny was more attractive than me…”

“Well… I’m sorry, but it’s the truth.”

“If that’s the truth, then why were you flirting with me literally the first time we met” Will questioned.

“Excuse me??? Me flirting with you??? You were the one who approached me that one day in lunch and started hitting on me. I just tried to be nice because of how pathetic you looked, but clearly, someone misunderstood the situation.”

“Misunderstood the situation??? You were the one who had everything wrong. I approached you that one day to tell you to stop making moves on Johnny because it always ends the same way and that man is too dense to realize anything that ever happens around him. Then, out of nowhere, you fell in love with me and couldn't stop flirting with me. I felt sorry for how pathetic you were, so I just went along with whatever you said.”

“Whatever makes you sleep,” I said, brushing everything he just said off. “It’s funny though, my original plan actually was to move back here and get Johnny back for myself. Obviously, things didn’t work out exactly as I planned: You showed up, and Johnny and Xela started talking much more.”

“So I’m just a substitute for Johnny?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“Way to boost my morale,” he said with a wry smile. “To be fair, I kinda did the same thing. I’ve had a crush on Xela ever since the beginning of high school, but I was too scared to ever say anything. Eventually, I gave up and knew I had no chance. Then, you came into my life out of nowhere and Johnny started to talking to Xela much more. So if it makes you feel any better, you’re kind of my substitute for Xela.”

“And look at us now, trying to get our old crushes together,” I laughed. “You know, I really am envious of both of them. They’ve got it all. They have good looks, they have good grades, they’re athletic, they’re generally liked by everyone, and they’re also two of the most generous people I’ve ever met.”

“I know what you mean. They have the potential to be two of the most popular kids at our school, but it’s just that they’re really....”

“Awkward!” both Will and I said together, followed by a laugh.

“I never realized it until now, but it’s scary how similar those two are,” I said.

“Yeah, even their interests match up. It’s not every day you find someone who likes both anime and hockey.”

“Why don’t they start fucking already?” I asked as a joke.

“Unlike your man, Johnny doesn’t have a pair and can’t make the first move if his life depended on it.”

“That’s why we’re coming in with our plan.”

“RIGHT!” Will suddenly yelled. “OUR PLAN!”

“Holy shit, we’ve been talking for so long, I completely forgot about the plan.”

“Let’s get back to work then,” he ordered.

“It wouldn’t be called getting back to work if we never did any work to begin with.”

“Shut up with your smartass comments.”

“Okay.”

Part 2

“Help me here, where’s the first place that comes to mind when you hear the word ‘romantic’?” Will asked me.

“Dinner?” I suggested.

“They won’t like that.”

“Amusement park?”

“It’s not open until summer.”

“Aquarium?”

“Just why?”

“The movies?”

“They’re not stupid enough to fall for exactly their same plan,” Will said. “It brings me back though. I can’t thank those two enough for setting me up with you.”

“Yeah, same here. I kept worrying and worrying about who’d have to make the first move. Turns out, neither of us had to in the end.”

“You have to give me some credit for asking for your phone number though,” Will said proudly. “I swear my heart was about to explode out of my chest.”

“Haha, you should have seen me too. I spent the whole movie just waiting and waiting for you ask me out again or for my phone number. When you finally did it, I almost pissed my pants.”

“And here we are now, one month later.”

“It all started with them and that stupid love calculator I still can’t believe we fell for,” I said.

“You got that too? They really have been working hard together for us, haven’t they?”

“Yeah, like that time we all played rock, paper, scissors to have the two losers to take out the trash together, but they ended up losing so they changed the rules to the two winners have to take out the trash.”

“And that time the four of us were studying in the library and they both had to go at the same time to ‘do chores at home,’ so they could leave us alone.”

“Also the Valentine’s Day date plan they spent a whole week working on.”

“It’s funny because they’re the ones who need the help the most,” Will commented.

“Haha, you’re completely right about that. I can just imagine their conversations: one of them accidentally calls the other cute and they both start blushing like shy middle-schoolers.”

“Ugh, those two are hopeless. I don’t even know if they’ll change that even after our plan.”

We both paused for a few seconds until we realized we got off topic once again.

“RIGHT! OUR PLAN!” we both yelled this time before breaking into laughter.

Part 3

“I want to choose somewhere that will give them an everlasting memory, you know, like those romantic scenes in movies?” Will said, still thinking of ideas.

“So… like the beach?” I suggested.

“Yeah, kind of, except for the fact that it’s February and we’re in fucking Alaska.”

“Hot springs then?”

“What, are they supposed to talk through the wall?”

“Do you have any better ideas?” I asked, annoyed.

“Nope, why do you think you’re here?”

“Because you want to spend quality time with your girlfriend?”

“Yes, because discussing how to hook up those two idiots is definitely how I want to spend quality time with my girlfriend.”

“Ugh, you’re right. This is more stressful than I thought it’d be. How long have we been at it? 3 or 4 hours?”

“Something like that. I just want to go home now.”

“Hey, I got an idea,” I said. “How about we put in all of our previous ideas in a hat, and whatever we pick is what we’re sticking with? No buts, no what ifs, no bullshit.”

“Yolo, I’m tired, I’m hungry, and I just want to go home. They could go to a strip club for all I care.”

Will and I began ripping up sheets of paper we had in our bags into smaller pieces. We wrote all of our ideas starting with dinner going all the way down to hot springs and put all of them into the football cap Will was wearing.

“Would you like to do the honours?” Will asked me.

“No… If I pick something shitty, you’d start blaming me.”

“Okay then… I guess I’ll do it.”

Will closed his eyes and dug into the pile of pieces of paper and picked out a relatively small one. As he opens his eyes and takes a look, he covers his face with his hands like it’s the end of the world.

I take a look at what it says on the paper, and sure enough, it’s the beach.

“It’s all your fault, Rebekah.”

“I wasn’t even the one who picked it and I’m still getting blamed on.”

“You were the one who suggested it!”

“You were the one who picked it!”

“I don’t control what I pick!” he exclaimed.

“The beach isn’t so bad, right?”

“Oh, what are they supposed to do at the beach in Winter? Bring their jackets and start skiing?”

“What if, by some miracle, it isn't snowing that day?” I asked.

“I checked the weather forecast this morning. It’s expected to snow this whole week.”

“Skiing on the beach it is!”